The recent closing of Long’s Drug Store has brought sentimental feelings for longtime customers and fans of disappearing vintage-style businesses, but it is not the first somber moment in the store’s history.
In fact, the friendly banter between employees and customers was part of a deliberate continuation and enhancement of the store after the founder’s sudden death years ago.
As the Shopper News concludes its two-part look at the Bearden store’s history, an interview with owner Hank Peck revealed that his father, the late former co-owner Jim Peck, was determined to carry on Dr. Clarence Long’s dream.
Long, who founded the store at 4604 Kingston Pike in 1956 along with John Benson, had been killed in a 1966 car accident, and Jim Peck wanted to keep the name and at least the same level of service after taking it over.
“Of course, we knew the family and just adored them and loved them,” Hank Peck said. “Dad just didn’t see a point in changing the name and he didn’t.”
According to an old News Sentinel story found online, Long, 62, had left the store after it closed on the rainy evening of May 27, 1966, and was driving to his Kingston Pike home in Farragut when his compact convertible crossed over and struck a truck driven by Jerry Jenkins. The accident occurred near Cedar Bluff Road and Kingston Pike, and he was taken to what is now UT Medical Center and died later that evening.